Biography
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Born
14 October 1937
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Died
25 November 2020 (aged 83)
Liselore Gerritsen (Wichmond, October 14, 1937 – Woubrugge, November 25, 2020) was a Dutch singer and writer.
Gerritsen began her career as a student in Leiden. Paul van Vliet and Floor Kist, also Leiden students, heard her sing in a café and invited her to join the Leidsch Studenten Cabaret, which they had established. With this group, she performed successfully in the Netherlands and abroad.
Later, she married Paul van Vliet and, together with Ferd Hugas, Judith Bosch, and pianist Rob van Kreeveld, founded Theater PePijn in The Hague. Originally a warehouse, they converted it into a small theater with 110 seats. Reflecting on this time, Gerritsen described it as a “joyful time” and “a dream come true,” recalling sold-out shows and their hands-on approach, including managing the coffee, bar, and cleaning after performances.
For PePijn’s productions, such as Oh pardon, Opus 2, Day and Night, and Opus 4, Van Vliet wrote most of the texts. Gerritsen contributed her own work in Opus 4, resulting in her first LP: Liselore zingt Liselore. She won “De Trap,” an encouragement prize, and later won the Relipop Festival with Laat de kindertjes tot mij komen. Over the years, she released two more LPs with compositions by Herman van Veen and Jan Hollestelle.
After PePijn disbanded in 1970, Gerritsen continued performing, including in the program In the Name of Jacques Brel and as an opening act for An Evening at the Sea by Paul van Vliet. Later, she collaborated with Ramses Shaffy on Ramses en Liselore, which ran for about eighty performances. She returned to PePijn for “Small Concerts,” where she narrated or sang stories with musical accompaniment.
Ruud Jacobs, at that time a producer at record company CBS, heard Liselore during one of her performances, which led to a collaboration on two albums: Ik heb het tegen jou and Oktoberkind, and eventually to marriage (by then, Gerritsen had divorced Paul van Vliet). A selection of lyrics from these and other albums was later published in two collections: Je kunt niet alles hebben and Het jaar van de Kaapse viool.
From the 1980s onward, Gerritsen took a different path, giving readings and lectures from her own work. Although she enjoyed this new direction, she recorded another CD in 2004, Liselore NU, with music by Bart Wolvekamp.
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